User Ratings & Reviews

341ml bottle served in a pint glass. From a variety 12 pack (2 each of 6 brands).

Clear, dark gold to pale light brown in colour. Thin off-white head with some lacing.

Aroma is malty with some slightly skunky hops.

The taste is pretty good until the aftertaste kicks in. Malty, slightly sweet and slightly caramel with a floral hops undertone at the swallow. Terrible skunky bitter aftertaste. The floral undertones tag team with the skunky bitterness to lay a hurtin' on my tastebuds. Truly disgusting.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied with little carbonation.

This was the first Big Rock beer I had ever tried back in the mid-90s and I didn't like it then, but since a couple came in a variety pack I gave it another try. I tried both bottles on different occassions and came up with the same conclusion. The aftertaste totally detracts from the beer. If they had no aftertaste at all it would be better, and in fact this might not be a bad beer. However, that aftertaste makes me want to puke. Both bottles had the bottom 1/4 of the glass poured down the drain.

341ml bottle
4.5% ABV
I tried this beer on January 31, 2008 at "Smokeless Joe's" in Toronto. The beer poured a reddish-brown colour with a thin whitish head. The aroma was stale malt with a little bit of hops. The mouthfeel was medium-thin with high carbonation. The taste was grainy with no detectabe hops or malt.

I thought the Big Rock Traditional Ale was bad. This is way worse. Pours a light chestnut color with a very dimunitive and short lived head. Virtually no lace. The smell is very sweet like koolaid with raisin notes, no noticeable hoppiness. The taste is too sweet. Cream Ales should have way more malt complexity than this does, its cloying and bland. There's also no hop presence worth noting. Very bland and extremely watery, I wouldnt buy this again.

Reminds me of Big Rock's IPA, only with more water and even less flavor. Smells vaguely of malt and toffee, and has a hint of nuttiness along with some malt flavors. You would expect a cream ale to be low on hops, but they are basically nonexistant in this particular example. Overall it's not completely horrible, but Big Rock's other beers are better.

Attending the Toronto Festival of Beer last year, it seems that Canadians have a love affair with cream ale. It's gives the appearance of a darker beer w/ some heavier characteristics compared to the normal light lagers and pilsners. Warthog fits right into this category. A light lace hung on for a bit around the top edge fo the copper/gold colored beer. Warthog has a sweet malty base with a solid but not overly aggressive spicy aroma and light fruity esters. Slightly chewy mouthfeel, but might be because I drank the Jack Rabbit right before it. Overall, it's a a not unpleasant taste and is light enough to drink a couple, if that's what you're looking for. Personally, I'd look for something a bit stronger.

I've seen Warthog everywhere but have never bothered to try it until now, usually just sticking with Big Rock Trad because I already know that's good. This came in a variety pack, so I finally have a chance (excuse?) to try it.

Pours a copper orange colour with a thin beige head that doesn't last very long. No lacing on the sides at all, and the remaining film on the surface isn't very creamy. The smell is hard to make out but it is definitely malty. So far I am not particularly impressed.

My first sip indicates some sweetness, heavy carbonation, followed by a little bit of caramel/toffee malts. Dry finish from the hops. Not fantastic, but suitable for a cream ale I suppose. Mouthfeel is watery and thin with a lot of bite from the CO2. I definitely wouldn't describe it as creamy. Very drinkable, but not very memorable.

The only thing that saves this beer from getting a very low (D-level) score is its taste, which is enjoyable, if not completely unmemorable. Of course, most people don't buy beer to sniff it or look at it, so the decent taste is enough to give it a decent score - and that's really the only adjective I can use to describe this beer: decent. It is forgettable and elicits a big fat 'meh' from me.

If you have never tried Warthog and are standing in a liquor store debating whether or not to get it... you probably shouldn't bother. I have been in this exact situation many times over the last 5 or 6 years, and it's nice to feel vindicated in my oft-repeated decision without having to actually purchase a 6-pack of it. If you do get it, you won't be disgusted of course, but you'll be left wondering if there wasn't something better you could have gotten. There almost certainly was.

Deep orange to light brown in colour with a two finger white head. The head fades to a thin cap, but leaves plenty of even lacing around the glass.

Faint faint toffee like malt and a bit of flowery aroma in the nose. Not an entirely pleasing mix, but not offensive either.

I have a hard time describing the flavours in this beer. Nothing really stands out. Malt profile seems to be faintly caramel like, while the finish is just a bit herbal or medicinal. Really a light flavoured beer that has a hard time holding my attention.

Carbonation on the lower side, while the body is slightly fuller. The mouthfeel would be more than adequate to carry a better flavour.

Despite lacking in the flavour department, this is a drinkable beer. Just rather bland.

A - Pours a nice copper brown with a solid thumb of bubbly head. Head dissipates relatively quickly leaving a little lacing.

S - Scent is rather metallic with a bit of a toffee scent present. A nice balance of hops and malt, with a slight nutty scent.

T - The metallic scent comes through strong on the first taste, but finishes with a sweet toffee malt taste. Pretty mild overall, and the metallic flavour is a little too strong for my liking.

M - Pretty smooth, not too thick. Doesn't overwhelm the palette at all, making for a nice crisp feeling.

D - Not too bad. Is a good beer if you're looking for something with a bit of flavour, but is pretty light and refreshing. The metallic flavour kind of turns me off, but that seems to be consistent with many of the cream ales I've tried, so I guess it comes with the territory!

A - Pours a maple-copper color with a small, soapy beige head with pretty good retention, but no lacing.

S - Aroma is mainly light malt with some sweetness. A touch of caramel malt and leafy hops just peak through. Strangely metallic.

T - Follows the nose closely, maybe a bit more toffee/caramel presence, but very little. A touch of hops lingers in the finish along with the aforementioned metallic feel.

M - Medium bodied with medium carbonation, although it's a touch fizzy. It definitely has a bit more body to it than I had expected, but nothing substantial.

D - Although this is a step above the average macro-lager, it's a far cry from a real craft brown ale. Just another Big Rock product that caters to the pseudo-craft beer audience and entry-level beer drinkers; and as much as that makes me sound like a snobby elitist, it's true.

How do they tell, down at the brewery, that this stuff hasn't gone bad? Because it smells OK?

Warthog is otherwise a fine beer. Its taste is somewhat pungent, but it the good sense of the word "pungent". It is full-bodied, attractive to look at, and a fine quaff. All told, one-and-three-quarters thumbs up.

(Later: I had a buddy sniff my warthog [no, don't go there!]. He tells me the scent is in my imagination. Mind you, he didn't like the taste as much as I did, so I guess my rating still stands.)

Taste: Here, I will do my best to avoid making comments on taste that may be attributable to the can (real or perceived). No discernable hops flavour (not inconsistent with style) but there is a biscuity malt flavour, not sweet, that lingers for a little while. Personally, I find it lacking in the taste department and not a style paradigm.

Mouthfeel: Thin but surprisingly not crisp (which in my experience, is uncharacteristic of style) as expected. Also not as highly carbonated as would be expected.

Drinkability: I didn't find it "refreshing" in the typical sense of the word, but it is relatively easy to drink. If nose and taste had been more rewarding, I would have considered this a "sessionable" beer.

DISCLAIMER: I am contra canned beer when it comes to that age old debate. I tried my best to have an objective and impartial mind when reviewing this beer, but the fact of the matter is that I believe (stress on it being a matter of opinion) that the can may have had an adverse impact on this beer. I'm leaving my review as is, but if I ever have the opportunity to try it on tap or from a bottle, I will take another look at this review.

Pours an orange/brown colour, with no head to speak of. A bit of bubbles around the rim of the glass, and nothing between. No lace as well. The beer is a pretty colour, that's about all the positive I can give for appearance. Sweet malts on the nose, with a bit of a flowery, light perfume scent as well, with a bit of caramel. Taste is a little too cloyingly sweet. Malts and caramel are just too strong in a relatively weak tasting beer. Aftertaste has a bitterness that lasts for perhaps a nanosecond, then disappears. The mouthfeel is damn good. Smooth, creamy, and not overly carbonated. Drinkability is tough. Mouthfeel is good, but the rest is below average. I'd drink it again, but only if offered it.

Easy drinking brew, minimal malt heft to it, smoothness gives it a cream pedigree I guess. Pretty much a malt bomb, even though it isn't all that thick, and is relatively light bodied, there's just not much hopping (or anything else) to it. Maybe malt forward, not bomb. Toffee.

Didn't really pick up much sweetness or caramel, carbonation was what it should have been. Price was higher than it should have been ($7.49/6).